Thermoplastic blanket materials are well known in the art. Such materials have been utilized as acoustical and thermal insulators and liners for application to appliances and vehicles. These insulators and liners typically rely upon both sound absorption, i.e. the ability to absorb incident sound waves and transmission loss, i.e. the ability to reflect incident sound waves, in order to provide sound attenuation. They also rely upon thermal shielding properties to prevent or reduce the transmission of heat from various heat sources (e.g. engine, transmission and exhaust system), to the passenger compartment in vehicle applications.
Relatively higher density board products produced from thermoplastic blanket materials may be utilized as structural parts for appliances, office sound screen partitions, in hood liners, head liners and other automotive and truck applications.
The present invention relates to a novel apparatus for the production of thermoplastic blanket materials, a method of processing a thermoplastic blanket and a thermoplastic blanket product exhibiting a number of unique physical characteristics and properties that better adapt the final product to meet the needs of a number of product applications.